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When I moved into this house, I began cutting down trees and shrubs here and there. I wanted it to be easy to move around in the garden, and many of the shrubs were actually a rather boring sight. But as I have drifted more and more into the grow-your-own-food world, I have become more aware of what is going on in the garden. How things fit together, how the system works. And last summer was a true eye-opener.

Neighbors have reported that the former owner of the house was almost self-sufficient with vegetables from the backyard, and that she really knew what she was doing. And then I could not help but wonder whether it is a coincidence or not that this particular shrub has been given a spot in the garden? It looks quite dull and anonymous such a winter’s day:

But then I want to show you the video from last summer: The shrub is completely alive with bumble bees!:

And if something is good for plants, it’s bumble bees as they pollinate flowers on plants, and thus ensures fruits of one kind or another are formed.
It actually took a little courage to stand this close when filming, but bumble bees are really not so hostile after all.
Imagine if I had just mowed down this fine shrub? Was it a coincidence that she had planted this shrub in the middle of the old vegetable garden, or did she do it on purpose?… Something to think about.

And by the way: If you recognize this shrub with its flowers, and know what kind this is, please write a comment below. It is hereby recommended for attracting bumble bees

Unfortunately for me no bumble bees came this year to nest in my homebuilt 5 star bee hotel. The glue that I used for the roof to glue the two pieces of wood together did not withstand the weather, so I turned to plastic cable binders (again) to keep the roof in place. It must have resulted in water coming into the nest. Maybe that kept the bees away. The choice of wood thickness was overkill, but that was what I had laying around in the garage. Thinner wood can be used with no problems:

Moss from the lawn seems to keep well inside the nest. And it’s easy to find around here as I do not take good care of my lawn. In fact, I would convert it all to beds if it wasn’t for the kids using it as playground. Maybe I can convince my daughter to grow her own radishes in a couple of years :

The cardboard in the bottom looks like something took small bites of it, and it is definitely deteriorating. I think this results in poor conditions for the bees, but I don’t know what to put in instead. The idea was to replace the cardboard each year in order to reuse the nest. Maybe if the wooden roof had been weather proof it would be in better condition:

I’m not going to give up on the design just yet, as I would like to see if a big, yellow flower head painted onto the box around the entry hole would attract some bumble bees.

Thomas Winther from RenewablesAtHome.com has described a more advanced type of bumble bee nest, if you want to check out other types of bumble bee nests.

Here’s an interesting video from YouTube about back yard sustainability. Janaia Donaldson is interviewing Scott McGuire from Oregon about the project he’s running in the backyard of his rented property. The picture is lagging but that’s worst in the first 10 minutes when they talk face to face. After that they take a tour in Scott’s garden and the lagging becomes tolerable.

In the video you’ll find:

• Experimenting with growing wheat and amaranth
• Growing a medicine border
• Growing sun flower seeds
• Greenhouse for starting plants from seeds
• Drying herbs in greenhouse
• Dog kennel as chicken house
• Growing food for your animals
• Crimson clover as nitrogen fixer

and some other small but interesting things:

I have this big 1000 litres tank that I collect rain water in, but I’m too lazy to actually carry the water in a 10 litres watering can out in the garden. That’s why I have installed a water pump in the tank to do the job.

I’ve spent a long time looking for a pump that was small enough to pass through the hole in the top of the tank since it had a nice screw-cap:

Unfortunately I didn’t find a pump that would fit so off with the cap. My friend Mr. Dremel helped me out:

Notice the colour of the rain water; this tank needs to be emptied soon I even noticed a couple of insects swimming around down there. Gross.

With the plastic perforated the remaining screw thread was cut away with a stanley knife:

This brand new Alko Rain 2500 rain water pump fits in the new hole in the water tank. I paid about 500 dkr. ($100) for this one.(230 V~, 350 W, H max 11 m, Q max 2.5 m3 / h, D 3 m.) The valve is just left fully open:

Yep, it fits and stands on the bottom. I’ve attached an extra string just in case:

I’ve put a wooden lid on top of the tank to keep small animals away so they won’t fall into the tank and drown:

Yes! It works. But I would estimate that it only delivers about 80-90 % of the pressure compared to tap water:

The rain water pump is connected to 42 metres (138 feet) of 0.5 inch hose so maybe that’s a bit too much for the pump. I’ll try to shorten the hose and see what happens.

When I turned off the pump I was surprised to see that the water kept coming out of the sprinkler:

This is due to the natural flow since the tank is placed a couple of meters higher that the sprinkler. It’s solved by disconnecting the sprinkler and using a connector with built-in stop valve.

The rain water pump system is working fairly well so the next step is connecting it to the soil moisture sensor system and build the automatic watering system I keep blabbering about

Here’s my first podcast and it’s all about potatoes:

 

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It was supposed to be easy. Build a wooden box, put it up in the garden, and the bumble bees will move in to pollinate your plants on a daily basis. Well they haven’t arrived yet. I’m still crossing my fingers though. Or maybe I came too close with lawnmower.
I made the mistake of using raw untreated wood with no protection from the rain, so the nest box has been deformed in the bottom, which is not good.

So far the young peach tree is doing well behind the plastic canopy I built earlier. Fortunately there’s no sign of peach leaf curl, so hopefully the canopy is keeping the tree dry. When the spring sun is shining from a clear sky the temperature is quite high behind the plastic. It’s almost like a greenhouse although the canopy is open in each side to allow bees to pollinate. I have seen a few big bumble bees around already, but I think I have to help the tree by doing some artificial pollination with a brush. (Check out Gill’s post about peach pollination by hand on mytinyplot.co.uk.)

The leaves still look normal. The flowers are reaching for the sun and inviting the bees. Yep – I think we’ll have peaches this year

Photo by juicyverve.

Dill attracts all kinds of beneficial insect to your garden and it can be used in the kitchen as well. That’s why it makes a lot of sense to grow dill along with your usual vegetables. The Latin name for dill is Anethum graveolens.

Soil
Find a spot with well drained soil, protected from wind and with full sun, or at least 6 hours of sun per day. Dill is a perennial plant that lasts for several years. Dig the soil well down to 45 cm (18 inch) since the roots are long making it difficult to transplant. It tolerates frost down to -4 deg. C (25 deg. F).
Soil pH should be in the range 5.5 to 7.5, preferably only up to 6.5.

Sowing
Dill can be grown from seed sowed in the spring outside in the garden after the last frost has passed, sometime in April or May. Cover the seeds lightly with soil. Rows should be between 30 to 46 cm (12 to 18 inch) apart.

Growing
Seedlings emerge in 1 to 2 weeks after sowing. Thin the plants so they will be 24 cm (9 inch) apart. Dill grows on a single stem to a height of 60 to 90 cm (2 to 3 feet) and the plant looks like fennel.

Harvest
When the flower heads appear no more leaves will be produced. This takes about 4 to 8 weeks after planting. Seeds can be harvested after the heads have turned brown.

Some animals do you a favour when it comes to removing bugs and pests from your garden. Here’s a list of those beneficial animals and how to attract them. If you’re wondering how each one of them is helping you out in the garden take a look at this post on beneficial animals.

Birds

Photo by faeryboots.

Birds love the sound of gently moving water, which will attract them to your garden. They also need a birdbath but make sure it’s not deeper than 8 cm (3 inch). When winter comes it’s best to have some sort of heating underneath the birdbath, so that the birds have access to drinking water. Food is necessary too of course, and planting trees with fruits or berries is a good idea when you want to attract birds. In the mating season birds need shelter and nesting material.

Dragonflies

Photo by Krikit ♥.

A pond is great for attracting dragonflies, but don’t put fish in it because they will go after the eggs. Dragonflies prefers to have big flat rocks near the pond where they can soak up energy from the sun. They’re solar powered and will only fly when they reach a certain temperature. They need shelter but two thirds of the pond surface must be out in the sun.

Frogs

Photo by timitalia.

Frogs prefer quiet water and no fish, since the fish will feed on frog eggs. Frogs spend much of their time above water so you’ll need to build a pond with sloped edges making access to surrounding ground easier. When out of the water they like to hide in damp and cool places like half buried clay pots. In the winter frogs lie dormant at the bottom of their pond.

Rove Beetles

Photo by dhobern.

Rove beetles like decomposing organic material lying around: Leaves, decomposing fruits, bark, decaying trees etc.

Tiger Beetles

Photo by .Larry Page.

Tiger beetles are attracted by lights at night. They like to hide in high grass around 8 cm (3 inch), under logs or under mulch. Give them access to water by filling a plate with gravel and placing it on the ground. The rain will keep it fresh.

It’s annoying to have your vegetables eaten up by bugs. Luckily it’s possible to get help from other insects, because they’ll attack those harmful bugs and eat them or feed them to their young. Some plants naturally attract these beneficial insects and some even attract several helpful insects to your garden. In the table below you’ll find the beneficial insects in the left column and the names of the attracting  plants in the top row. Below the table you’ll see a picture of each plant. By planting these in your garden you’ll be able to create a big insect magnet and get help hunting down those hungry bugs:

Coreopsis:

Photo by kabils.

Cosmos:

Photo by Kanko*.

Dill:

Photo by Eran Finkle – ערן פינקל.

Fennel:

Photo by Anika Malone.

Goldenrod:

Photo by Benimoto.

Lemon balm:

Photo by color line.

Sweet alyssum:

Photo by hortulus.

Do you already have any of these beneficial insects in your garden? Where are they hanging out?